The present invention relates to the field of interactive electronic methods and systems for the training and certification of employees. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and systems for interactive computer-aided training and certification that utilize multi-media content to provide instruction to and obtain feedback from a plurality of trainees via a computer network.
Companies and organizations in various industries are required, whether it be by law or by sound business practice, to provide training on a regular basis to their employees regarding safe, efficient, or otherwise necessary procedures for performing their job tasks. In particular, local and federal government agencies often require employers in certain fields to not only provide particular types of periodic training to employees who perform certain tasks, but also require those employers to certify on a regular basis that each such employee has received the training and has demonstrated a minimum understanding of the training materials. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration (xe2x80x9cFAAxe2x80x9d) requires airlines and/or airports to provide periodic safety and security procedures training to employees that perform certain tasks (e.g., airport operations personnel, airline ramp workers, fuel truck operators, etc.) to help ensure that federal aviation protocols are followed. Additionally, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (xe2x80x9cOSHAxe2x80x9d) requires employers in certain high risk industries (such as the construction and chemical manufacturing industries) to regularly certify that employees in various positions have the requisite understanding of any applicable safety regulations. Similarly, there are various state and local jurisdictions that impose like requirements upon various other occupational fields.
Traditionally, companies and organizations provided such occupation specific training and certification functions to their employees by sponsoring classroom-like instruction for their employees. In such cases, a professional instructor is hired to teach trainees (or employees who are seeking periodic re-certification) the required site-specific or task-specific subject matter in a traditional classroom environment. At the end of the xe2x80x9cclass,xe2x80x9d the trainees typically are administered a test to judge whether they had mastered the necessary minimum materials required for certification or job approval.
In the art of employee training and certification, a variety of approaches have been taken to remove the need for live instructors and thus automate the training of employee personnel in the work environment. A common approach comprises using one or more books to introduce training material to a trainee, after which the trainee is subjected to a certification test requiring he or she to answer multiple-choice questions about the material. Often, after the certification test is over, a page reference is provided for the reader to review his answer, whether correct or incorrect. If correct, he or she then is instructed to continue with more new material. If incorrect, reference is made to an explanation and the reader is asked to again select the correct answer to the multiple choice question.
Using such take home book classes provides added flexibility in that employees can take training classes and receive certifications as needed. Additionally, self-taught classes eliminate the need to hire and coordinate class attendance with skilled instructors. However, such self-taught book classes suffer the significant disadvantage that trainees are deprived beneficial interaction during the training process. Additionally, book courses also suffer from an inability to clearly convey certain subject matter, such as applications of the material to real-life situations often encountered on the job.
Currently, various systems and methods for computer-aided training and certification are also known. While a great deal of interest has arisen in this field recently due to the emergence of computers into everyday life, and especially into the workplace and classroom, an optimal computer-aided training and certification solution still has not been provided. Computer delivered training systems can take advantage of interactive logic and multi-media content, such as audio or video clips, to provide a better alternative than book-based training, but the current utilized approaches have significant drawbacks that relegate computer-based automated training to the status of an unacceptable alternative for traditional classroom instruction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,609,358 issued to Sangster et al. teaches a computer system for providing video-based training to trainees. The system uses a video monitor and a network of computers to instruct a plurality of trainees at a given time by accessing and displaying appropriate video content stored on a video disk. The patent alleges that its system is useful in providing training to employees at their work sites and in allowing multiple trainees to interact with one another as they would during related real-life situations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,345 issued to Hon teaches a system in which a computer is used to monitor physical actions performed by a trainee and then provide appropriate feedback, in the form of audio or video clips, to the trainee. The audio/video clips contain instruction relating to the correct manner of performing a given task that the trainee is attempting to master. In response to the trainee""s performance on the test actions, the system then selects and displays audio and/or video clips that are expected to further explain skills that the tested trainee has not sufficiently mastered.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,616,033 issued to Kerwin discloses a computer-aided training system that allows administrators to select instructional materials, in the form of generalized hypothetical situations and simulations, that are applicable to a given trainee""s particular type of job.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,438, to Richard et al., discloses a network system for computer aided instruction wherein a network of computers provide instruction to students by accessing a central library of content stored on a remote mainframe server. Such mainframe systems traditionally run special courseware programs on the students"" remote workstations to access information from the server and display the information on the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,167 issued to Nobles et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,060 issued to Richard et al. disclose distributed computer systems for providing learning materials to students, testing students, and managing test scores. In both systems, a plurality of computing devices administer tests to the students and then transfer test scores to a central location for storage and administration by proper officials.
Although the foregoing disclosures present a variety of approaches for presenting automated training materials to employees and then checking their responses, they do not provide sufficient opportunity for a trainee to interact with instructional material customized to provide both task-specific and site-specific training information relating to the trainee""s job type and work site, respectively. Similarly, the prior approaches have not provided a system that adequately provides training to employees and tracks and manages certification results over both local networks and over distributed networks such as the Internet.
Thus, there remains a need in the art for an improved system and method for computer-aided training and certification that overcomes the above-described and other disadvantages inherent in the prior art.
Accordingly, the present invention is an improvement over the prior art systems and methods for the training and certification of employees for work environments that require both task-specific and site-specific training.
In light of the above-described and other disadvantages inherent in the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for training and certification that not only serves as a suitable automated alternative to classroom type training, but also provides a mechanism for simultaneously managing the certification status of many employees.
Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide an interactive computer-based system through which trainees can receive site-specific and task-specific instructional content such that an employee can be easily and competently trained and certified to work in a particular job or activity category and work site environment for performing such a job or activity. Concurrently, it is an object of the present invention to provide such systems and methods whereby trainees can additionally receive such site-specific and task or activity-specific training in the form of interactive multi-media instructional content delivered on an individual basis via stand-alone computer workstations.
Additionally, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for managing the current status of employee certifications at various work sites wherein the records of each employee pertaining to one or more certifications is stored in a centralized data bank.
Finally, it is an object of the present invention to provide a stand alone turn-key computerized unit for conveying customized interactive training instruction to a trainee, and for then testing the trainee to determine if an acceptable portion of the instruction was understood and retained to qualify for certification.
To achieve these and other objects, the disclosed systems for computer aided training and certification according to the present invention include a central network having an electronically accessible storage media, a server, and software run by the server. The system further includes one or more remote client devices (such as personal computers or workstations) that serve as automated training and certification testing units which are electronically connected to the central network. The software running on the central network server is adapted to receive the certification results for employees electronically from the training units, and then then store those results on the storage media. Additionally, the server software accepts queries from certification administrators requesting electronic access to the certification results data. Preferably, the central network is electronically acessible by the training units and the certification administrators, such as via the Internet, to facilitate updating of and access to the certification results.
The training units according to the invention each include a visual display, a computer central processing unit, and input means for data entry by a trainee into the unit. In embodiments of the present invention, customized electronic training units are provided to work sites, such as manufacturing plants, RandD facilities and airports, that conduct periodic training and certification of its employees. A series of such training units are adapted to provide instruction to employees/trainees on an individual basis, test the employees regarding the instruction, and upload relevant information pertaining to the certification into a centralized searchable database located on the central network""s storage media.
Preferably, each training unit according to the present invention interacts with one trainee at a time, and comprises a stand alone turn-key system including a personal computer with the training software installed therein, a touch screen monitor, and means for outputting audio (such as speakers or headphones). The trainee is provided instruction with multi-media content, such as video clips, that provide training information specifically pertaining to the job for which the trainee requires certification as well as information specifically pertaining to the particular trainee""s potential work site (i.e., containing video shots of his particular RandD facility). After each section of instruction (e.g., a series of video clips), the system prompts the user to answer several test questions regarding the previous instruction (video clips). The subject matter and order of these questions, as with the instructional content, are preferably customizable for each facility and each type of job certification in the facility. A training session is complete only once the trainee reviews all of the sections of instructional content and answers the requisite number of test questions. Preferably, the instructional content on each unit includes multi-media material specific to each job type and work site, including video and audio clips of the tasks and specific work environment (job site and/or facility) for which the employee seeks certification.
The interactive system can optionally provide various degrees of customization for each facility and job or activity certification type within the facility. For example, the training units for each facility are designed to show video clips of the particular facility at which the trainee will be working such that the particular nuances and requirements of each facility can be easily explained and understood. Furthermore, the order and content of the video clips and their accompanying audio explanations are customizable to each facility. Additionally, the manner in which the testing is done can be modified for each facility. For example, a passing score for a training and certification session could be based on getting a percentage of questions correct for all sections, or a minimum number of questions correct for each section. Finally, if the minimum number of questions is not answered correctly after each section, then appropriate content, such as a specific video clip, could be automatically replayed and the questions regenerated until the trainee passes the section.
At the end of the training and certification sessions, relevant results information is loaded into a central database (preferably accessible via the Internet) such that the current certification status (name, date last certified, etc.) can be searched and monitored. In this manner, the training and certification responsibilities for a large organization can be more easily administered.
The systems and methods according to the present invention will be discussed in more detail below with respect to the drawings and description of several embodiments of the present invention. It should be understood that the forthcoming description is merely illustrative and is by no means limitative of the invention as claimed.